The Dominican and Christmas!

In this past week, a lot has happened! First, on the 19th, we took a road trip to the Dominican Republic with the Ayars! We stayed at a resort called "RIU" in Puerta Plata! It was absolutely gorgeous there!

Here is the building we stayed in...

And the beach, the beautiful beach...

Gorgeous, just plain gorgeous...

Ethan and I!

Just watching the waves crash up against the shore was amazing...

My family...

And the Ayars family!

Every night before dinner, our families took a walk around RIU, it was awesome. Every single time we walked around, I was continually amazed by God's creativity in his creation...

RIU also had a pool, though it was COLD. Every time I jumped in, I had to do water aerobics for a few minutes to warm up!

Sweet little Sofia...

They had a beach volleyball court (which we used quite often during our stay!) and they had pool volleyball too ! Which as you can see, we also used quite often!

After spending a relaxing five days in the the D.R. we traveled home, just in time for Christmas!

We had our little special Christmas dinner at the Ayars house, with a pig leg we got in the D.R.! 

It was good...

One thing that I've wanted for a long time was a second ear piercing...

So my Nana got me an ear piercing kit for Christmas! Last night Dad pierced them for me!

I love them!

Now for an update on the cats...

After being lost for a couple days, Cally's kitten "Rosie" is now safe in her home, growing quickly, and happy as could be...

Merry Christmas!

I hope you enjoyed this blog, and if you did, let me know in the comment section!

Stay tuned!

Christmas Preparations and More!

As you all know Christmas is almost here, so it's time for decorating! Since we didn't have very many     decorations, we decided to make some out of leftover wood from "Phil's Workshop"!  Here are some step by step directions. . .

Step #1: Pick out wood. . .

Step #2: Have dad and Ethan cut/sand the wood. . .

Step #3 (optional): Have Dad cut designs into them. . .

Step #4: Paint them!

Step #5 (optional): Draw cool patterns. . .

Step #6: Place around the house!

Speaking of Christmas decorations. . . we put up our Christmas tree the night of O.M.S. Thanksgiving!

I think this is my favorite ornament. . .

I guess I'm due for an update on Cally's kittens!

They are doing quite well, and are becoming very playful (especially in the Christmas tree!).

And here is my little Cheetah. . . cute as ever!

Three of the kittens just went to their new homes... we miss them already! Fortunately they are keeping Rosie!  :)

Recently we decided to try and make mozzarella cheese with a cheese making kit we bought online! It ended up working great, and we even tried it on pizza and it tastes great too! Anyway, here it is. . .!

My dad is getting pretty good at welding and he has been learning to make a lot of cool designs. He made this little patio for the cafeteria and welded the gate!

Beautiful, huh? 

(Its not quite finished getting painted.. just wait until you see the final project!)

Well I guess that's it for right now!

Stay tuned for more blogs about our life in Haiti!

Leave a comment and tell me what you think!

Our Fall Fun!

I never actually realized how strange it is to be going to the beach, when some of you, are getting snow! Though I'm definitely not complaining...

As part of our "fall fun" we went to Dhaloo!

The boat ride there was gorgeous, as always...

One thing I (quite unfortunately) forgot to do was bring my camera when we went cliff jumping. Normally, that would have been ok, if two guys hadn't pulled up in a boat with a sea turtle. 

Though to make up for it, Stacey and I found two hermit crabs!

They sure do like to climb!

Here's is an update on Cally's kittens! (If you missed that blog click here...)

They are getting soooo big and playful!

Here's the little momma cat...

And here is my favorite kitten Cheetah (a.k.a. "Loudy" or "Screamy" because, well, he's loud!)

Over the summer, my dad (and a few others!) made this patio thingy, that we call "the circle"... 

Isn't it AWESOME?

When Don Hulmes came for a couple weeks, He and Dad worked on these!

They even added a planter in the middle. Once it has plants in it, it will look even better!

I don't know if I put this on my blog or not, but that pineapple we were waiting for was finally harvested! It was the biggest pineapple we had ever seen! When we went out to pick it, we noticed how big another one was getting!

And here's a pretty marigold...

When the front of our house started to look like a jungle, dad went out and bought some new plants!

He ripped all the ugly plants out...

And put some newer baby plants in there!

These are some of my favorite flowers...

Whenever I try to take pictures of Pepper, he always sticks his nose on the lens! 

Another part of our Fall Fun was our annual Halloween Party, and again we dressed up!

Mom was Audrey Hepburn, Dad was a turtle (he made an awesome turtle shell out of cardboard), Ethan was a rubix cube (which was also made out of cardboard), and I was a Greek goddess! 

Mom and I!

And Pepper was our little army dog!

(You can tell how absolutely thrilled Pepper was to be wearing a shirt...)

Though the Ayars were the best... 

Stacey and I!

This year we played a new game!  We took the game "Kan Jam" and turned it into "Monster Jam"!

Like last year, we played "pin the face on the pumpkin"!

And mom made the coolest little deviled egg spiders out of black olives...

After our nice little party, we went "trick or treating" at the different houses! Though I didn't get any pictures of that.

To finish off this blog, here is some rainbow pictures...

Just in the middle of the day, we noticed it, bold and bright in the sky...

Thanks for reading this blog!

Comment below and tell me what you think!